


never fade in the dark

by aisu10



Category: The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: 5harky is too goddamn nice, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cardiophilia, Gen, Happy Ending, Heartbeat Kink, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Medical, Needles, Sickfic, i dont ever capitalize anything anymore, i think it counts as that, this is for her bc i love her, wow this is a goldmine, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 18:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1658441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aisu10/pseuds/aisu10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>peter will not let harry go without a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	never fade in the dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rywaen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rywaen/gifts).
  * Inspired by [if the world were kind](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1656155) by [rywaen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rywaen/pseuds/rywaen). 



> [ companion fic to 5harky's "if the world were kind" - i loved her alternate version of the story so much i wanted to write my take on it. this is for you, 5harks. happy friendiversary, and thanks for always being an inspiration to me! ]

the experiments keep failing and every day there's less and less of harry left for peter to hold. desperation rages behind his eyes as violently as peter's blood overtakes and corrupts harry's under the microscope. sometimes after a failure harry cries and clings to peter. sometimes harry yells at him and pushes him away with all the force his weak hands can manage. sometimes he tosses and destroys whatever he can get his hands on, as if the answer to all their problems lies in broken glass and spilled vodka.

peter can feel him slipping away. while harry sleeps, quiet as death, peter watches the feeble pulse in his throat beat beneath ugly green and purple skin and wonders if he's going to make it to the morning. he tells himself that he has to. harry is strong. harry will survive.

eventually they live together in the lab, never leaving, peter barely sleeping. felicia brings them food three times a day but harry barely touches his. he sleeps more than he wakes and his chest barely moves when he breathes. his hands shake as he tells peter, "i don't have much time left."

"we're gonna figure this out, har," peter says, pressing lips to his feverish forehead, feeling harry's trembling fingers clutch at the front of peter's shirt as if it's the only thing still tethering him to this world. if only peter could wrap his arms around harry and keep the life in his body. he would never let go.

at this point harry is so desperate that peter thinks he might go ahead and inject himself with toxic blood if left alone, so peter never leaves him. they relocate the couch they had placed in the corner of the lab for sleeping to the center, so peter can monitor the samples without leaving it. harry passes out with his head on peter's lap. his shallow breath tickles peter's fingertips every time he hovers him by his face to check that he's alright.

then finally, it works. relief flooding through every inch of his body, peter gently rouses harry and tells him the news. "your blood is _healing._ "

harry sits up with renewed strength and immediately offers his inner arm. 

"give it to me, peter," he orders.

peter takes harry's hand, folds it back to harry's chest.

"one more night. just to be sure. one more night."

harry resists at first but doesn't even have the strength to hold his own arm up. peter sets a timer for 12 hours - enough time for the computer to do a full safety analysis and the blood samples to settle out - and harry slumps into his shoulder, tears flowing freely and staining peter's sleeve.

"what if i don't make it," he chokes out, "what if we have the cure, and i don't live to take it."

peter turns and cradles his best friend's face in his hands. his skin is pale, green-tinted, burning up. his brilliant blue eyes have dulled to gray and his once-perfect haircut is now a mess, loose strands sticking to his sweaty forehead. but peter sees strength in him yet. inside him lies a will to survive more potent than any superpower peter's ever known. 

"you'll make it, harry," peter promises, "i'll be here with you all night. i won't leave you. you're going to make it."

harry looks away, turns his head so that his lips touch peter's hand. peter pulls harry close, keeps his ear pressed to his chest like peter's heart can remind harry's how to beat and survive this final trial. harry molds to him, tries to stay awake but after only a few minutes his eyelids are drooping, lulled to sleep by the steady sound inside of peter. harry feels so fragile in his arms - his ribs are barely expanding and peter suddenly realizes that if he lets harry fall asleep again, he might never wake up. peter grasps him by the shoulders, pulling them apart, and says, "no, harry, stay awake, stay with me. just a couple hours more."

"i don't know if i can," harry whispers hoarsely.

"look, we'll get some food in you, we'll put on the tv, anything. just wait out these last few hours with me. you can do this, har."

harry blinks so slowly that for a second peter thinks he has fallen asleep already. then he replies, "...i'll try."

felicia comes with food again and stays with them for a while. when they try to feed harry he spits his barely-chewed food into a napkin and felicia calls for an i.v. so he can at least stay hydrated. they ask if he'd like other equipment to help him through the night but harry rejects the offer.

"i don't want to look like my father on his deathbed," harry mutters darkly, "the i.v. is enough."

they stay right there on the couch in the lab. peter checks the samples every few minutes. they have only improved, and he keeps telling harry that to keep him awake and attentive. peter runs his fingers over the needle in harry's arm and asks him to tell him everything he remembers about the years they were apart. harry does, for a while, but eventually his voice is too weak to continue and peter takes over where he left off, telling him stories of the life harry left behind. harry's eyes are ringed with purple but they still crinkle at the edges every time peter tells him something funny, every time he recounts some awful thing a bully did to him that's now hilarious in retrospect, every time he speaks tenderly of gwen and how much he loves her stupid laugh. the stories manage to keep harry awake through most of the night, but only an hour before time's up he begins to falter. he slumps against peter's stomach and peter untangles his i.v. from around his arm while begging him to stay awake just a little longer.

"it's almost time. c'mon har, you've made it this far."

harry doesn't reply, but the wetness seeping through peter's shirt tells him that he's crying again. his shoulder's don't shake. he can barely move at all.

peter pulls him up, holds his face again and thumbs his tears away.

"just one more hour."

harry nods, more like shivering, and peter holds their foreheads together. as spider-man, peter has saved a lot of people, but he's never been more determined to save anyone in his life. this is what it was all about. this is was his destiny, the reason his father had tested on the spiders that bit him in the first place. to save people's lives.

the last hour passes with peter breathing in time with harry, uniting them as one synchronized being, one powerful will to live. peter runs his thumbs in circles over harry's wrists rhythmically, reminding him over and over that he's not alone in this. they'll make it through together.

the timer finally goes off and for the first time in what seems like ages, peter lets go of harry and lunges for the computer. all tests came back positive. the blood is clean. it's red and healthy under the microscope and it would be red and healthy in harry's veins.

in a few minutes peter has synthesized the cure. he turns to the couch to see harry slumped over the side, tangled in the iv cord again, and for one horrific moment his heart stops. harry's words echo in his head - _what if we have the cure, and i don't live to take it_ \- and peter rushes to his side, puts a hand on his diseased neck and only breathes again when he's found harry's pulse, weak but still _there_. 

"peter," harry murmurs, and without even opening his eyes lifts his shaking arm again. "give it to me."

peter slides the needle under his skin. only when he's sure every drop of the cure is pumping through harry's veins does he let his friend collapse against him again and finally sleep.

~

when harry wakes again there's color in his cheeks and a hand to the forehead tells peter his temperature is back to normal. the green bruise on his neck has already begun to fade and peter can't stop himself from pressing a kiss to the spot, causing harry to laugh, really _laugh_ , for the first time in weeks. 

after peter has removed harry's i.v. and documented his vitals in the computer, harry drags him down on top of him on the couch, still laughing with the glee of survival. peter grins as harry hugs him into his chest, against a heart that's never sounded stronger. he can barely believe that just hours ago this kid had been on the verge of death. peter looks up at harry. he's crying again, but this is a very different kind of tears.

"thank you, peter," harry says. he'd never been one for sappy moments like this but peter figures this is a special occasion.

"i _told_ you you would make it," peter replies, and the look of elation on harry's face is the only thanks that peter really needs.


End file.
